When photographer Kelli Higgins posted a birth announcement featuring her 13-year-old adopted son on Facebook, she received over 12,000 likes. (Kelli Higgins Photography)

Photos of a teenage boy made to look like a baby have gone viral, being shared thousands of times on Facebook and appearing in media outlets ranging from MSNBC to the Daily Mail. At first glance, the unusual images might look creepy but when you hear the back story you’re likely to find them endearing.

The photo was taken by Florida photographer Kelli Higgins who is the mother of eight children, six biological and two adopted, 13-year-old Latrell and his younger sister Chanya.

Higgins adopted Latrell at age 10 and she was troubled by the fact that she could give him all the love in the world yet still he was missing the special memories of an early childhood.

“They come to you with nothing. I mean really nothing, no history at all. No pictures of themselves as babies or anything,” Higgins told theChristian Science Monitor.

The professional photographer decided to fill the void by doing a creative photo shoot, depicting Latrell as a newborn and sending out the image as a birth announcement.

She posted the announcement on Facebook and the response was tremendous. The photo was shared over 5,000 times and received over 12,000 likes and over 2,000 encouraging comments.